Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Central European University

lord lester of herne hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will make representations to the government of Hungary to protect the legitimacy, autonomy and academic freedom of the Central European University.

baroness anelay of st johns: We are closely monitoring the situation. As part of our regular, open and frank discussions with the Hungarian Government, the British Embassy in Budapest is engaging with them on this matter.

Ministry of Justice

Courts: Fees and Charges

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish the details of each court fee charged to businesses for money claims in each year since 2013.

lord keen of elie: The fees charged for money claims are specified in the Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008, as amended from time to time. The relevant statutory instruments prescribing fees for money claims over this period are:Coming into forceTitleReference4 April 2011The Civil Proceedings Fees (Amendment) Order 20112011 No 586 (L. 2)22 April 2014The Civil Proceedings (Amendment) Order 20142014 No. 874 (L.17)9 March 2015The Civil Proceedings and Family Proceedings Fees (Amendment) Order 20152015 No 576 (L. 7)The statutory instruments can be found at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/

Courts: Fees and Charges

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of court fee increases for money claims brought by small and medium-sized businesses since 2015.

lord keen of elie: In January 2015, we published an Impact Assessment setting out the estimated costs and benefits of the planned increases to the fees to commence proceedings for the recovery of money: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/court-fees-proposals-for-reform/results/impact-assessment-enhanced-fees-for-money-claims.pdf We continue to keep court and tribunal fees under review.



Impact Assessment 
(PDF Document, 57.94 KB)

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Charities: Grants

baroness gould of potternewton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which charities were awarded funding from the Tampon Tax Fund; how much was allocated to each charity; and what were the criteria used to determine those awards.

lord ashton of hyde: As announced on 30th March 2017, 70 organisations were selected to be put forward to share £12 million worth of investment from the Tampon Tax Fund. All applications into the fund were assessed against three criteria: evidence for the need of the project; the organisation’s ability to deliver; and the sustainability and impact of the project. A list of the 70 organisations has been published on the Government website: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/charities-across-the-uk-benefit-from-tampon-tax-fund

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Finance

lord burnett: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what were the annual budgets for (1) the Royal Navy, (2) the Royal Air Force, and (3) the Army, for each financial year from 2014–15 to 2019–20; and whether any of those budgets for the years to 2016–17 were underspent.

lord burnett: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what were the annual budgets of the Royal Marines for each financial year from 2014–15 to 2019–20; whether those budgets include a proportion of the UK Special Forces budget; and if so whether those payments are spent exclusively on Special Forces personnel, training and operations.

earl howe: The Armed Services operate as fully integrated joint organisations in which elements from the Royal Navy, the Army, the Royal Air Force, and the Royal Marines all work closely together and share buildings, facilities, and sometimes equipment. A joined-up approach is vital to delivering the capability enhancements outlined in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review. However, the consequent integrated budgetary structure means that it is not possible to state accurately what the Spending Review settlement means for individual services in a particular financial year (FY). As is standard practice, we do not comment on the operations of the Special Forces. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is split into six Top Level Budget areas including Navy Command, Army Command and Air Command. The following information shows the net Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) outturn (resource and capital) for the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force Top Level Budget areas in FYs 2014-15 and 2015-16.  Net DEL outturn by Top Level Budget (reviewed as forecast against budget by the Defence Board during the year)Restated 2014-15* (£000)2015-16 (£000)Royal Navy2,361,7872,506,976Army6,402,3146,553,188Royal Air Force2,416,1712,509,289   *During the last two years a new organisation, Information Systems and Services, has been formed (by combining internal MOD branches) to deliver information capabilities to the Department. The new organisation is part of Joint Force Command and comparator year figures have been restated to reflect the reorganisation which mainly impacted Defence Equipment and Support and Joint Forces Command. Annual budgets for each Top Level Budget area are determined depending on capability requirements and priorities. Forecasts of near cash expenditure against budgets are regularly reviewed and revised by the Defence Board in-year, when considering performance and resource allocation. It is not possible to accurately state the annual performance of individual Top Level Budget areas, or what their control totals will be in future years.

Home Office

Asylum

baroness lister of burtersett: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many grants of discretionary leave to remain were made in 2016 in respect of asylum seekers whose claims had been refused; and how the reasons for those grants were classified.

baroness williams of trafford: The Home Office publishes the number of asylum applications and initial decisions broken down by nationality, each quarter in table as_01 of the Immigration Statistics release. The latest figures are attached to this answer. They are also available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2016/asylum Each asylum case is considered on its individual merits in accordance with our international obligations and protection is granted where it is needed. Information regarding the reasons that an individual is granted status is not readily accessible from central statistical records and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost through a manual search of individual case files.



Asylum Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 3.13 MB)

Refugees

baroness lister of burtersett: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the reasons for the fall in the number of people who have been resettled to the UK under the Mandate resettlement scheme, from 90 in 2009 to eight in 2016.

baroness williams of trafford: Mandate plays an important part in facilitating the resettlement of refugees in various locations across the world. There is no specific quota or target for the number of people resettled via Mandate. The referral of cases (and the corresponding numbers of arrivals) under Mandate is dependent on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) identifying cases which meet its criteria. Mandate operates in addition to the Gateway programme which resettles 750 people a year. This is in addition to our commitment to resettle 20,000 people under the Syrian Vulnerable Peron’s Resettlement scheme and 3,000 people under the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement scheme.

Department for Exiting the European Union

British Nationals Abroad: EU Countries

lord jones of cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what priority they will give in their negotiations on leaving the EU to securing an agreement continuing the annual increase in the UK state pension for UK citizens who remain living in EU member states.

lord bridges of headley: The Prime Minister was clear in her letter to the President of the European Council that we should seek an early agreement on the rights of UK nationals in the EU and EU nationals in the UK, on a reciprocal basis. This is a priority issue for the forthcoming negotiations and, as the Prime Minister has emphasised, we will always put the interests of citizens first.

Environment Protection: EU Law

baroness jones of whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish a draft of the Great Repeal Bill and associated legislation during the Brexit negotiation process, to enable all interested parties to determine whether the UK will maintain levels of environmental protection.

lord bridges of headley: There are no plans to publish a draft Bill. The 'Legislating for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union' White Paper sets out the detail of our approach to the Great Repeal Bill and how the domestic legal system will work once we have left the EU.The White Paper makes clear that this Government remains committed to being the first generation to leave the natural environment in a better state than that in which we found it.The UK will continue to be a leader on international environmental co-operation, as demonstrated by the Prime Minister ratifying the Paris Commitment on Climate Change.The Great Repeal Bill will provide certainty and stability by ensuring that the body of existing EU law, including environmental law, continues to be UK law. Any future changes in the law will be for Parliament to decide.

Brexit

baroness smith of gilmorehill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the need for legislative consent motions to be passed by the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, and the Northern Ireland Assembly in relation to the Great Repeal Bill.

lord bridges of headley: The final content of the Great Repeal Bill, when it is introduced, will determine the process to take it forward.The Government fully respects the Sewel Convention and is working closely with the devolved administrations – for example through the Joint Ministerial Committee on EU Negotiations.This is part of the normal working arrangements between the UK Government and the devolved administrations.

Department for International Trade

Trade

lord lester of herne hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to impose any legislative requirement on the devolved administrations to comply with the principles of (1) non-discrimination, and (2) free movement of goods and services between the constituent parts of the UK, in the exercise of their powers after the UK has left the EU, equivalent to those principles which are currently enshrined in EU law; and if so, how.

lord price: As the UK leaves the EU our guiding principle will be to ensure that no new barriers to living and doing business within our own Union are created. We will maintain the necessary standards and frameworks to empower the UK as an open, trading nation to strike the best deals around the world. On the basis of these principles, we will work with the devolved administrations on an approach to returning powers from the EU that works for the whole of the UK and reflects the interests of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England.

Department of Health

Antidepressants

lord brooke of alverthorpe: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many anti-depressants were prescribed to patients in 2015 who continued to consume alcohol; and at what cost.

lord o'shaughnessy: This information is not held centrally.